Stars rise and set and rise as nights past to the last night of eternity

Fat Gedik sat in the sunset as he watched some of the crew digging in the foundations of a collapsed stone temple. The other Chimeras explored the tumbled-down stone remains of the small nameless town; they crowbarred-up paving slabs and tried to lever-open anything that looked like it might be a secret door. The scrambled over the fallen columns and picked through piles of masonry.

A strange chill came over the ancient ruins: The Forest Spirits of the Frozen Echo appeared on the ridge opposite them and the Orcs immediately abandoned their exploration - they charged forward in two groups.

The Dryads were just too fast for the Orcs - most of the Corsairs were cut down in droves before they even got to strike a blow.

Brooding beneath the dunes like some great thinker considering days to come as nights go by

The Chimeras faced a band of terrible undead on their home ground - in the Temple of the Dark Sun.

Shadows danced on the sandstone walls of the tunnel as the smoky torch flame sputtered in the dry desert winds. Weird Khaaan paused a moment to peer ahead into the darkness beyond the circle of dirty orange light. It was cooler here, far into the mountainside. Initially it had been a relief from the scorching heat of the sun but as the passage wound down into the deep it got colder and the Orc mystic was glad of his heavy robes. According to the old maps this was the tomb of a great wizard of aeons passed, long hidden among the sand dunes. Most assumed it must have been picked clean by tomb-robbers many hundreds of years ago, but Khaaan could feel the power of an ancient artifact, somewhere ahead and below, in the furthest reaches of the under-crypt.

The silence of the cave was broken as the rest of the Chimeras came round the corner of the tunnel, holding oil-lamps and scimitars. They chattered and laughed, bumped into each other and argued, pointed at things and exclaimed, spooked each other with tales of hidden Ghouls and Vampires. Khaaan ignored them: He focused on the sensations of power in the dark.

The tunnel opened into a massive chamber - the lofty ceiling so high that the torchlight could not reach it and it remained in shadow above them. The floor of the chamber was littered with piles of large boulders. The Chimeras spread out as they entered the cavern and started to search between the boulders. Somewhere in the massive chamber there was a stash of books - they didn't know if it might be locked in a chest, or buried under a pile of stones.

A crumbling stone structure of carved pillars, towers and a giant raised dais loomed out of the darkness as they cautiously picked their way forward. The Corsairs chattering had died away to nothing in the huge cave. A sense of approaching doom hung heavily upon them and crushed their playful antics.

As the Orc corsairs searched something moved in the darkness beyond the light of their oil-lamps. A scratching noise, of claws on stone froze them in their tracks...

A monstrous bone-construct leapt out of the dark and tore into the Orcs!

The Chimeras found a small dusty town, tried to raid it for supplies and got pounded by the Ogre band hired to defend it.

The Orc Corsairs leapt the fence and streamed down the slope into the small village as the Ogre defenders rushed to meet them. The Chimeras threw themselves at the hulking brute in twos and threes but the Ogre just batted them aside like so many flies.

After half their number had been knocked down or bloodied the Orcs fell back and abandoned the raid.

And I saw through the dark like a fell veil falling across the faces of the Fates

In the dark of the moonless night the Chimeras crowded round Razkhadhim and the large brass bottle as the Djinn Binder carefully removed the wax seal while reciting the ancient words of control. They nodded to each other in silent approval; they always enjoyed a good ritual. As the seal crumbled and fell to the sand the Orc Corsairs shuffled a few steps back.

The Djinn flowed out of the brass bottle like smoke, laughing like thunder. His pale turquoise skin transformed from moment to moment: Now almost transparent, now as solid as stone. From the waist down he faded into billowing sand coloured clouds. He rolled and span as he revelled in his new-found freedom, stretching his arms and shouting. The whirling of the Djinn stirred up the wind and the sand, whipping the long robes of the gathered group.

After a few minutes he seemed to notice Razkhadhim and the cowering Orc Corsairs for the first time. For a tiny fraction of a second his face fell, his expression changed to fear, panic and loathing. But the fleeting moment passed and his mastered his emotions. He slowly folded his arms with a disdainful look of pride and arrogance.

"What is your wish, my master?" he said in a booming voice loaded with scornful contempt.

~ ~ ~

The Orcs crashed into the group of Chaos Dwarfs and their Hobgoblin slaves. Their leader, Fundin Axestorm, and his elite bodyguard cut a bloody swathe through the Orcs, felling six of the greenskins. The Orcs did not sell their lives cheaply though - they took Wolf Riders, a Dwarf lieutenant and Hobgoblin henchmen with them.

Nart broke through the Dwarf defences though and made a dash for the forge hidden in the dry forest, he lobbed the brass bottle deep among the trees, where it broke open - spilling turquoise smoke into the trees.

Fundin Axestorm roared with anger - there was nothing he could do to stop the desecration of the forge. The Djinn ripped stone from stone and timbers from the ground as the Orc Corsairs fled, laughing with evil malice.

Last edited by WarbossKurgan on Mon 9 Sep 2013 - 3:07; edited 1 time in total

Alone, as dunes delivering me to dunes - moved me from rainless waste to rainless waste

The silence of the windless evening was shattered by battle cries and the echoing reports of gunfire as both the Dwarf Pirates and Orc Corsairs charged. The scattered stones of the ancient ruins reflected the sounds strangely and magnified the noise - making it seem as if there were hundreds battling in the dry little gully. Kaptain Sinbag crashed through the Dwarfs leaving one clutching a bloody stump of his sword-arm and another starring sightless at the cloudless sky with a smoking hole in his forehead.

The lines of Orcs and Dwarfs slammed against each other in the smoke, neither side willing to give and inch and both willing to commit everything to the fight. The casualties were inevitably going to be heavy on both sides.

"Be careful, you worthless bugs! You will kill us all if you drop one of those vases!" yelled Ghazan the Alchemist. "Watch where he are going, you mindless grub crawling in the corpse of a camel! And don't look at me like that, I am saving your life and the lives of all these Boyz!"

The high-pitched and pannicked yells echoed from the walls around them as Ghazan ran up and down the lines of Orc Corsairs, who were struggling in the heat to carry dozens of clay vases. They piled them, far too carelessly for the Alchemist's liking, around the Rock Lobbers who's crews eyed them warily.

The Orcs had moved dozens of the heavy vases already today and they were getting fed up with the screeching. None of them really understood the point of what they were doing and they didn't feel like they were doing anything worthwhile. This was goblin work, not proper fight stuff. Not Orc work.

~ ~ ~

On the wall of broken statues and stolen timbers and Orc stood peering through a complex brass device. Nkarb the Astronomer was taking a series of measurements, adjusting the lenses and dials and scribbling chalk-marks on a slate held by a goblin assistant.

Once he was satisfied with the angles and distances he stepped over to the nearest Rock Lobber. He quietly asked the Lobber Bully to make a change to the aim of his war-machine. The Lobber Bully looked skeptical but the Boss had made it very clear, they were to point the Lobbers where-ever Nkarb said they were to point them.

~ ~ ~

Ghazan climbed up the packed sand embankment and stood next to Nkarb when the first vase had been loaded in to the Lobber. The Alchemist looked stressed but nodded to the Astronomer - everything was ready. Nkarb pointed at the Lobber Bully and almost whispered "You can fire now". The Bully was not so shy.

"FIRE!"

The Lobber crews heaved on the release-rope and the arm of the Lobber shot up and came to a crashing halt at the top of its arc - the vase sailed up into the air, over the wall of masonry and over the dunes. It rapidly diminished as it tumbled through the air, far out over the besieging armies beyond.

The Orcs carrying the vases all craned their necks and stood on tip-toe to see it's fall.

The vase landed with a distant crack, followed a moment later by a dull "Whump". A rapidly expansing dome of roiling green fire erupted around the impact-point - fire that consumed everything it touched. Soldiers were incinerated in seconds as the sticky green fluid within the vase plastered everything within a few yards of the vase, and spontaneously ignited on contact with the air.

The gathered Orcs stared in shock for a few minutes before busting in to a roaring cheer. They jumped about pointing to each other and laughing, slapping each other on the back and nodding.

A few of them suddenly realised what they were holding and became a lot more cautious about putting them down carefully. A few but not all. An Orc near the back of the chain had not seen the impact and effects and was blithely trying to pick up three vases at once. The others moved away from him, scuttling backwards as one of the vases slipped slightly where he held it under him arm.

"What?"

The vase dropped.

"Whump"

Last edited by WarbossKurgan on Tue 27 Aug 2013 - 3:26; edited 1 time in total